ParaWorld is as ancient as the dinosaurs that populate the game. Borrowing a number of gameplay features from old-school real-time strategy games, and failing to break any new ground at all, ParaWorld is as traditional as RTS games come. Resources, base building and micromanagement are in full force in this run-of-the-mill real-time strategy game, which is ultimately the game’s unfortunate shortcoming. Despite sporting a unique setting that recreates a Dinotopia-like feel, the old-school RTS features are extremely primitive and overshadowed constantly by games released several years ago such as Age of Empires and Warcraft that put some of ParaWorld’s more prominent ideas to shame; one of which is the story.
The game features a fairly robust campaign mode in terms of depth, yet everything else isn’t as polished. The story is terribly inconsistent, frequently makes no sense and provides more cheese-factor than Power Rangers. It works like this: three scientists discover a parallel world full of dinosaurs, cavemen and Vikings. Add in a bunch of bad guys from Earth who had already discovered the world years ago, and are using this alternative world to their advantage. The story progresses with little to no depth or sense at all; one moment you’re a geeky scientist and then the next you’re riding a tiger and whipping out orders. It is told in such a children-oriented manner that motivation to complete the story isn’t sustained. There are thousands of other ways to explore dinosaurs and their purpose for being in a game, and the developers settled on one of the silliest.
How's the weather up there?
Besides the story, the campaign falls flat in other areas too. The battles, while littered with problems, are generally quite enjoyable for the traditional real-time strategy gamer. Several hours into the campaign though, the game begins to drag on and becomes a tad boring due to its mission structure. There is absolutely no variety besides building an army & base before you head out to flood your enemy in a typical deathmatch-like battle. The idea of having to start a new base, accumulate resources and an army quickly wears thin. In light of other real-time strategy games, the structure is terribly boring and is a step back in the genre’s progression.
That’s probably the key area where ParaWorld fails; it feels so underutilised. The story is dull and uninteresting, the campaign battles aren’t at all lively and there’s a severe lack of depth in available units and factions. There are three factions in the game, all of which that provide unique differences between one another, including play styles. Unit ideas are generally quite nice too, with mammoth dinosaurs acting as catapults or battle rams. Regardless though, the faction differences aren’t at all that deep and the apparent lack of variety with units and armies hurt the overall longevity of the game. In this day and age, to only have three factions is a massive slap to the face, and with dinosaurs you’d think there would’ve been plenty of room for more.
There are typical skirmish and multiplayer modes to explore outside of the campaign mode, which are generally much more appealing. The matchmaking is relatively minimal and simple, and customising matches isn’t too deep either - battles can be enjoyable in patches though. Building on many of the fundamentals shown in Age of Empires II such as resource gathering, base building, epoch changes and battles, the game will be appreciated by your old-school RTS gamer. ParaWorld includes a few neat ideas of its own in an attempt to provide gamers with a friendlier interface, namely its army controller feature.
The army controller is located on the left of the screen and has a set amount of slots for each tier. Tiers act as levels for your units, and the more you battle the quicker you can upgrade your units into these tiers, providing added bonuses such as strength and health, as well as the ability to use tier-exclusive abilities. It is easy to manage your troops by simply clicking on their portraits, and helps to highlight your stronger units over your more disposable ones. The problem with the army controller is that it restricts the size of your army, with a cap of only 52 units, which is far too small for most map sizes.
Classic old-school RTS formula.
There are also a handful of momentary problems that find their way into the game. Hero characters can execute special abilities during battles, granted they have reached the desired tier level first. These abilities are generally quite useful during battles and significantly help in tiding the battle in your favour. Issues persist since most abilities are long-ranged (gunshots, sleeping spells etc.) but your hero will always need to run directly in front of your enemy before executing their attack. God only knows why someone with a shotgun would need to be within touching distant before shooting, as is the case with why someone who uses sleeping magic needs to stand on top of their enemy. Trying to use these special abilities generally dosen't work as intended due to this problem.
Graphically, the game is quite attractive and not at all demanding of your system. The lighting is done exceptionally well, as is environment detail and character models. Not so hot though is the game’s animation; it’s quite atrocious in fact. In contrast to this, the voice acting is terribly simplified by cheesy dialogue and poor delivery, and sound effects are extremely primitive. Thankfully, the audio is saved by ParaWorld’s well-composed soundtrack that fits the game perfectly.
ParaWorld is an extremely difficult game to fully enjoy. While its similarities to Age of Empires, and other traditional real-time strategy games, are apparent and work well, it isn’t particularly a step forward in the genre. There’s a poor execution on utilising the use of dinosaurs, and there are plenty of rough edges in terms of gameplay choices. It is fun in patches for those of you who enjoyed games such as Age of Empires II, but is unlikely to hold your attention for long.
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